Jobs for Felons in Alabama

As far as we can find, Alabama has no ban-the-box law for public or private employers. The record question can be right on the application. We have not verified any city rules, so check with your city if you are applying for a city job.

Under federal law, a background check company can report a conviction no matter how old it is. Arrests that did not lead to a conviction generally drop off after seven years (the limit does not apply to jobs paying $75,000 a year or more). We found no Alabama law that shortens that for convictions.

An Alabama circuit court can grant an order of limited relief that lifts some or all of the automatic legal barriers a conviction puts on jobs and licenses. Here is the part to say out loud in an interview: if an employer knew about your order when it hired you, the employer is immune from a negligent-hiring claim based on your old conviction.

The court grants it if it is reasonably satisfied the order will materially help you get or keep a job and live a law-abiding life without an unreasonable risk to others. It is not automatic, and the court must rule within 90 days. The filing fee is $100 plus court costs; the fee cannot be waived, but if you cannot pay the court can set a payment plan. You cannot file while you have more than six months left on a custodial sentence or while a felony charge is pending. People on the sex offender registry or convicted of a violent offense cannot get one.

A 2025 law tells the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles to create a certificate of employability for people in state prison who meet criteria the Board sets. If an employer knew about your certificate when it hired you, the employer is immune from a negligent-hiring claim based on your prior conviction. People on the sex offender registry or convicted of a violent offense are not eligible. The Board sets the details, so check whether it is available to you: ask the Board or your release coordinator before release.

To expunge a felony conviction in Alabama, you first need a pardon with restoration of civil and political rights, and then 180 days must pass. Violent offenses, sex offenses, crimes of moral turpitude and serious traffic offenses are excluded. You can only do this once.

These can be expunged without a pardon: a charge dismissed with prejudice, no-billed by a grand jury, or ended in not guilty (after 90 days); a charge dismissed after drug court, mental health court, veterans court or a diversion program (one year after you finish); or a charge dismissed without prejudice more than five years ago, never refiled, with no new conviction in the last five years.

Misdemeanor, violation, traffic and city ordinance convictions can be expunged three years after the conviction, once you have finished probation and paid all fines, costs and restitution. Violent, sex, moral turpitude and serious traffic offenses are excluded.

There is a $500 filing fee per arrest, plus court costs. Several charges from one arrest take only one fee. If the court finds you cannot afford it, it must waive the $500, so ask about filing as indigent.

An employer that hires you without knowing about an expunged record is protected from lawsuits over it, unless it acted willfully or wantonly. But an Alabama expungement does not hide the record from everyone. It can still be shared with utilities, banking, insurance and other financial institutions, and the Department of Human Resources, and anyone applying for law enforcement or corrections jobs must disclose it.

Most Alabama licensing boards cannot deny you over a conviction that is not directly related to the job, a conviction that was pardoned, sealed or expunged, an arrest with no conviction, or a vague “good moral character” standard. An order of limited relief creates a presumption that your conviction is not directly related. A few boards are outside this law, so check yours.

Before you pay for training, you can ask a board in writing whether your conviction disqualifies you. It can charge up to $20 and must answer in writing within 30 days.

Federal EEOC guidance from 2012 warns employers that blanket “no felons” policies can violate Title VII, but since April 2025 a federal executive order has told agencies to deprioritize this kind of case. We found no Alabama law that stops a private employer from using a record, so your leverage is an order of limited relief or a certificate of employability (both protect the employer), expungement where you qualify, and the right employer.